Word of a Mayo revolution had spread through the midlands yesterday evening as the children of the Maughan era visited a memorable defeat upon Meath in the All-Ireland Under-21 semi-final.
It was achieved, funnily, through the qualities more regularly associated with the Meath teams; a strong defensive bedrock, accurate place kicking and general opportunism.
Despite having to embark on a series of personnel changes, manager Kevin McStay supervised over a resoundingly comfortable win. Up by 0-7 to 0-3 at the break, the dismissal of influential Meath midfielder Glenn Loughran for two bookable tackles saw the westerners all but slip into the comfort zone.
Ronan Loftus had a fine 30 minutes before succumbing to flu at half-time. His partner, Trevor Mortimer had an immense match and nailed two majestic points. James Gill and the stocky Marty McNicholas masterminded what was an impressive looking Mayo attack.
Mayo reeled off five opening points, including a gem from Alan Dillon before Meath managed a reply through a Barry Lynch point after 15 minutes. Although Meath more or less kept pace after that they never looked like closing the gap.
Typically astute at the back, with Damien Clarke especially impressive, they lacked cohesive fire power up front. Lynch kept them alive with fine place kicking and a wonderful distance point and Niall Kelly also landed a great score from the sideline.
Most of Mayo's scores came from deep and they created just one goal chance when Michael Keane whipped along the endline and delivered a pass through a crowded goalmouth to Colm Lyons, whose snap-shot drifted wide.
The westerners were rock steady. McNicholas cut two frees to maintain the advantage and with 15 minutes remaining they led by 0-10 to 0-4. Colm Travers angled a fine point after 51 minutes to push Meath within five but these young Mayo players killed the game off and look a strong bet for this championship.
MAYO: D Clarke; Eanna Casey, P Clarke, K Duignan; P Quinn, B Prendergast, S Grimes; T Mortimer (0-2), R Loftus (0-1,free); C Lyons (0-1), J Gill (0-2), B Maloney; M McNicholas (0-4, 2 frees,), A Dillon (0-1), M Keane. Substitutions: S Healy for R Loftus (half-time inj), B Padden for M Keane (42 mins), M Meeneghan for E Casey (57 mins).
MEATH: D Gallagher; D Clarke, H Gribben, R Kelly; J Donoghue, N Kennedy, S Kenny; C McCarthy, G Loughran; C Reynolds, N Kelly (0-1), B Lynch (0-5, 4 frees); S Bray, D Crimmins, T Loughran. Substitutes: C Travers (0-1) for S Bray (37 mins), A Fox for D Clarke (56 mins inj).
Referee: M McGrath (Donegal).
Australia completed a clean sweep of the series in the third under-17 International Rules Test played at the Fremantle Oval, Perth, yesterday with a 73-21 over their Irish counterparts.
